"Alright, come on, you—ah!"

Hands caught the falling bundle, air buffeting the swaddled cloth upwards. Rough hands raised the blanketed object with the gentlest of lifts, the girl who had dropped it regarded the down-turned and hardened expression the Doctor had set for her. She winced as his glare did little to soften.

"Guess I should be better at the mothering thing by now, huh?" she said, her th's like f's.

"Rose," the Doctor enunciated. He leaned in close, his crystal-like eyes clear and intense. "Don't touch the baby."

He pulled back and surprisingly enough took a peek down at the package in his arms, fitting just so perfectly in the crook of his elbow as if that junction were forearm met upper arm had always been meant to hold her. A grin lazily formed across his features and he bent to coo, running his nose against the soft skin of the child's forehead. He placed a gentle kiss, straightening up and bouncing in soothing hops. His hums resonated from deep within his chest and drifted into the baby Rose was no longer allowed to touch.

She rolled her eyes as a keening sound arose from his throat, a child's hand wriggling free from its confines to reach up at him. Ever the delighted Time Lord.

"Lookit you all fatherly," she said sarcastically, biting down on her sentimental smile.

He pulled his face to hers with a frown puckering his brow.

"Oi!" he exclaimed, hushing himself so as not to further rouse the child who snuffled peacefully in his arms. "Don't make it sound so foreign!"

"It is though!" Rose shot back, her grin a wild mess on her features. "Soooo weird."

"Well what'd you expect, that I'd be distant and cold towards her?"

"Uh," Rose said, breathing a laugh out her nose softly. "Yeah, 's matter of fact."

"To my own child? Come on Rose Tyler," he drew up to his full height, clutching the baby closer to his chest, closer to the twin hearts that beat in synchronization to the smaller ones he held dearly in his hands. "You know me be'er than that."

Rose strutted closer, the movement catching his eye but with his hands otherwisely occupied, he could do nothing but stare. Ogle. Same to him.

"Yeah," she confessed with a tilt of her head, her lengthy blonde hair falling off one shoulder. She stared up at him, rising on her toes. The "guess I do," ghosted over his lips as she sealed them with a quick kiss.

The Doctor smiled at his fortune, holding his two girls to him. There was nothing that could stop this, or keep this apart.

Not until they got home to Grandma Jackie, anyway.

A/N: As the avid tumblrer I am, I was looking up gifs of Niner(9thDoctor) and/or Christopher Eccleston himself for my "askthe9thdoctor" blog and I came across a gif of him telling Rose strictly, "Don't touch the baby!" I was going to reblog it as it was, but then a story formed and, well, here it is. This all came to fruition from a gif. Thank you gif! I think. Maybe this story is horrible and no one likes it in that case – damn you, gif! Or damn me. Whichever.

(IIIIIIIIIIIIII blame myself)